Tom Still's - Inside Wisconsin

Get insights on technology, the economy and politics through "Inside Wisconsin," a weekly column by Tom Still.

Still is president of the Wisconsin Technology Council, with programs that include the Wisconsin Innovation Network and the Wisconsin Angel Network. He is the former associate editor of the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison.

Still serves on advisory boards to the UW-Madison College of Engineering Industrial Advisory Board, the WiSys Technology Foundation and the Waisman Biomanufacturing Center, among other civic and business groups. He moderated the Wisconsin Economic Summits (2000-2003) and "Inside Wisconsin" appears regularly in 24 publications. He is a senior lecturer in the UW-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Still is the co-author of “Hands-On Environmentalism,” published by Encounter Books, New York.

Finding and lighting dark fiber will help Wisconsin prepare
for the predicted bandwidth crunch brought on by the “Internet of Things” and
the explosion in mobile devices, Cagigal and UW-Madison Chief Information
Officer Bruce Maas told a July 28 meeting of the Wisconsin Innovation Network.

With 55 clinical sites and more than 700 physicians, the Marshfield
Clinic is a dominant source of health care in northern, central and much of
western Wisconsin. From dental clinics to food safety testing to research in
about 400 active studies, the clinic offers a surprising array of services to
its 400,000 or so patients.

Managed by an independent board of directors but wholly
owned by the tribal nation, the LDF Business Development Corp. was launched to
create profitable enterprises and jobs for tribal members. It was done with the
knowledge that gaming revenues may rise or fall over time, and that reliance on
the Lake of the Torches Resort Casino alone was not a sustainable business
model for the tribe and its 3,600 enrolled members.

A project of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, Scale Up Milwaukee is
based on a model developed by Daniel Isenberg, founding executive
director of the Babson Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project. An investor
and entrepreneur as well as an academic, Isenberg has worked with
entrepreneurship systems in Colombia, Brazil and Denmark. Milwaukee is
the first U.S. community to develop an entrepreneurship program based on
his model.

Wisconsin isn’t California or Massachusetts when it comes to
angel and venture investment, nor will it ever be. However, it is building a
stronger support system for young companies and investors who know how to find
the most promising deals. That combination can help ensure a cycle with more
booms than busts.

Shelhart was among the experts who spoke June 29 at the first Data
Privacy and Security Summit in Waukesha, where more than 100 people heard about
the risks of data breaches – and how to better protect themselves and their
organizations.

On Wisconsin’s
startup climate: A prime example of why business rankings can depend on
what’s being measured – and how – comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics. The agency’s Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages noted that
Wisconsin stood 35th among the 50 states in jobs created between
2010 and 2014, a relatively lackluster standing.

What
often matters more than the sheer number of startups is the survivability and
“scale up” stages for young companies, a time when emerging firms produce increasing
numbers of jobs that pay solid salaries.

With plans to
accommodate about 250 employees and entrepreneurs within six years, the Direct
Supply innovation center is the latest effort to build upon a natural cluster
in Milwaukee: expertise in serving the needs of seniors and the providers who
care for them once they move into assisted living centers or skilled-care
facilities.

A core reason why lawmakers have so far softened budget
cuts to the University of Wisconsin System is their realization it’s a
statewide economic engine – with the potential to produce even more regional horsepower.

If
not the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., what? That’s
the question that must be asked – and properly answered – in order for
Wisconsin to embrace and execute an economic development strategy consistent
with the realities of a competitive world.

Long before the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. was created as a
quasi-public successor to the former state Department of Commerce, state
efforts to attract and retain companies and jobs wound up in the cross hairs of
controversy.

A day-long workshop, or “Developer Day,” will be held
Saturday at UW-Stout to give students, faculty and others outside the campus a
chance to learn more about the competition and to test their ideas. The
deadline to enter the contest is still about six weeks out – 4 p.m. June 24 –
but the UW-Stout workshop will give developers a head start. Teams will be
formed, participants will hear from people with disabilities and strategize
around possible solutions.

It's all
part of the message Jerry Jendusa will deliver during the June 2-3 Wisconsin
Entrepreneurs' Conference in Madison, where he will be a keynote speaker and
one of many examples of the innovation economy in southeast Wisconsin.

Wisconsin
Investment Partners, or WIP, invested $4.4 million in 2014, which is why the
latest Halo report by the national Angel Resource Institute showed the
Madison-based network among the 12 most active angel groups in the United
States in 2014. It was an elite group that included Tech Coast Angels, New York
Angels, the Houston Angel Network and Desert Angels.

When
computer scientist Michelle Lee joined Google as its first head of patent
strategy, the company held a few dozen intellectual property grants. When she
left eight years later, Google’s portfolio spanned 10,500 patents. The patent
explosion inside Google during Lee’s tenure there is emblematic of how much the
U.S. economy relies on innovation – and how protection of intellectual property
is essential to perpetuating that cycle.

Among the emerging rifts in the Republican Party is the fight over renewing the Export-Import Bank, a little-known federal agency that provides billions of dollars annually in loan guarantees and other financial support for U.S. exports. Either way the fight turns out, Wisconsin exporters stand to be affected. Read more in Tom Still's Business Commentary in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Long known for its attention to customers and community
involvement, American Family has emerged as a prominent example of a company
that values innovation – not only within its own walls, but inside companies in
which it may invest or otherwise take an interest.

Working with more than 100 businesses in southeast Wisconsin,
BizStarts is an example of a growing array of services for emerging companies
in the region. Some are focused on start-ups and some work with more mature
companies seeking to scale their operations. Others are tied to specific
industry clusters such as water or energy, and some work mainly with
campus-based entrepreneurs.

TLX, which makes electromechanical solenoids, adjusters and
control valves for the automotive industry and other industrial sectors, is a
prime example of a Wisconsin-based company that has cracked into emerging
foreign markets in recent years.

Much criticism of Gov. Scott Walker's budget proposal for the
University of Wisconsin System has focused on the $300 million in cuts
envisioned for the coming two years. Much less
attention has been centered on the likely benefits of creating a UW
System Authority as well as a long-term mechanism for providing state
tax support.

Whether the phenomenon is called the “shared
economy” or the “on-demand economy,” companies that capitalize on making more
efficient use of people and their possessions are changing some traditional
business models.

I asked a top infectious disease expert at the
National Institutes of Health the other day for his take on why some parents
are choosing not to get vaccinations for their kids. His answer was simple
enough: Those parents have no memory of why such vaccinations became a public
health standard in the first place. They lack any first-hand knowledge of the
serious, sometimes fatal, nature of the diseases in question.

Even in a city where partisanship is a way of life, there are glimmers
of hope that 2015 will be a year in which Congress gets down to work on issues
that drive the nation’s $1 trillion information technology economy.

There's more to Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to slash the University of Wisconsin budget than dollars and cents. It's about sending a message, Draconian or otherwise, to an institution he wants to change. Read Still's Journal Sentinel column.

Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal calls for about $1.3
billion in borrowing over the next two years to meet the state’s transportation
needs, from building or repairing roads and bridges to supporting mass transit
to improving ports, airports and more.

If you have ever gone on a “speed date,” and even if you haven’t, you
probably get the concept: A short meeting in which both parties exchange a bit
of information about one another and break the ice, with the goal of moving to
the next level… or simply moving on with no regrets. That’s
the concept behind the second Wisconsin Tech Summit, which will be held March
23 at the GE Healthcare Institute in Waukesha.

What
do these three companies have in common - Vector Surgical, RevolutionEHR and Fishidy? They’re all past finalists in the
Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest, a multi-stage competition that has
helped hundreds of entrepreneurs since its inception in 2004. The 12th annual contest is open for entries through 5 p.m. Jan. 31 at www.govsbizplancontest.com.

The stage is set for a state Capitol debate over
the future of the University of Wisconsin System, from its smallest two-year
campus to its flagship research powerhouse in Madison. Here’s hoping the debate is an honest effort to improve the
performance, accessibility and accountability of the state’s largest higher
education system, not a political exercise driven by perception rather than
fact.

With gasoline prices hovering around $2 per gallon
or less for regular grade across Wisconsin, drivers are saving money every time
they fill up their tanks. The story for producers of alternative fuels and researchers
seeking to unlock next-generation biofuels is very different. Their tanks are
running on vapors.

Tom Schuster, a seasoned corporate executive and turnaround expert who is now the
managing general partner for the Wisconsin Super Angel Fund, spoke Thursday at
a meeting of the Wisconsin Innovation Network in Wauwatosa. He outlined
the investment goals for the $9 million fund while pointing out just how hard
it is to raise such a fund in a financial risk environment that may be too
cautious for its own good.

Consider Wisconsin’s major business sectors: They include
financial services, insurance, health care and retail chains, all of which can
be prime for cyber-attacks. And yet, most C-level leaders in those sectors
would admit there aren’t enough trained hackers of the honest variety to go
around.

That problem deserves attention in Wisconsin, which is
behind the curve in producing, attracting and retaining the kind of
cybersecurity talent needed by companies and institutions of all sizes.

RevolutionEHR. Vector Surgical. BioSystem Development. What
do these three companies have in common? They’re all past finalists in the
Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest, a multi-stage competition that has
helped hundreds of entrepreneurs since its inception in 2004. The 12th annual contest is open for entries through 5 p.m. Jan. 31 at www.govsbizplancontest.com.

As members of the Wisconsin Legislature
suit up for the start of their 2015 session and a budget debate that is likely
to last until summer, they should skate toward the “puck” of predicted economic
growth rather than chasing prosperity where it was years ago.

A source close to the toy industry has once again leaked a copy of Santa’s perks list for Wisconsin politicians and newsmakers. Here’s what the good boys and girls in Madison and Washington will reportedly find in their stockings this Christmas. But they better not pout and they better not cry if an alert district attorney asks why gifts were delivered down chimneys after midnight.

If you ask the typical technology company
executive or worker what they think about “right-to-work” laws, which say
workers cannot be forced to join a union shop and pay dues as a condition of
employment, you may get a blank stare for an answer.

At the close of the third quarter during the
Wisconsin Badgers runaway football victory over Nebraska, a new entry went into
the record books… and not just Melvin Gordon’s single-game rushing record of
408 yards. It marked the first time that Camp Randall Stadium experienced
what telecommunications experts call an “inversion,” which means more data was
leaving the stadium in the form of photographs, videos and other digital
information than was being received inside by fans, press and staff.

So why do elected officials sometimes hide behind the “I’m not a scientist” line, or a close variation, when it comes to approaching major issues? The answer may have less to do with what they know about science and technology than what they think their constituents know, feel and believe.

Coastal-centric flaws aside, the Milken index offers a glimpse at what’s right about Wisconsin’s science and tech economy – which ranked 25th among the 50 states – and revealed serious challenges that deserve the attention of business, academic and government leaders.

By any standard, the Internet ranks as one of the leading innovations of our
time. It has revolutionized everything from commerce to medicine to entertainment,
all within the confines of a generation. Better
yet, it has done so largely without government regulation. So, why would
President Obama think now is the time to turn back the clock to Depression-era
rules written when all telephones were black, hard-wired and hung on a wall?

Romney,
who lost the 2012 presidential election to President Obama, weathered no small
amount of campaign heat over the alleged “vulture capitalist” practices of his
private equity firm, Bain Capital. Romney was accused of building Bain’s
portfolio on the backs of the working poor, a charge tied to the company’s
merger and acquisition business far more than its venture capital investments. Roll
forward to the 2014 mid-term elections and private equity investors such as
Romney are political darlings versus objects of derision.

An emerging dilemma at the UW-Madison involves state
government’s two-year ban on raising tuition, not only for in-state
undergraduates, but for out-of-state students of all descriptions as well as
professional school students in fields such as medicine, veterinary science,
business and pharmacy.

Gov. Scott Walker and Democratic challenger Mary
Burke have staked out major differences in their approach to job creation and
economic growth, but the candidates appear to agree on one significant item:
Reinventing the state’s flagship economic development agency was the right
thing to do.

The good news: Venture capital dollars invested in
Wisconsin through the first three-quarters of 2014 is already double all
venture investments last year, and the number of deals is approaching an
all-time annual high for the state.

The sobering news: Wisconsin still lags 23 other states in
deals reported during the third quarter of 2014, and falls behind 25 states in
total dollars invested during those three months.

During his “Rise of the Rest” tour stop in
Madison, venture capitalist and AOL.com founder Steve Case said Wisconsin’s
capital city would rank among the top 20 communities for startups in the United
States — “barely” — and if entrepreneurs continue to work hard, it could be
among the top 10 within a decade.

Yoshi Kawaoka is known worldwide for his work on avian influenza viruses, the
likes of which wiped out 40 million people in 1918. This talented UW-Madison
researcher has also spent time studying strains of the Ebola virus, which has
now found its way to the United States from West Africa, where thousands have
died from its devastating effects. Trouble
is, Kawaoka’s Ebola research is largely in the past tense because federal
funding for the project ran out just as some promising results were reported.

Along with 11 other companies, mostly in their early stages,
Promega was one of the first presenters in a conference format that has endured
in various forms since 1984. Known the past 10 years as the Wisconsin Early
Stage Symposium, it was previously the Madison Venture Fair, the Wisconsin
Venture Fair, the Wisconsin Venture Conference and the Wisconsin Life Sciences
Venture Conference. By whatever name, the annual match-making event has
introduced up-and-coming companies to prospective investors and contributed to
Wisconsin’s high-growth economy.

Opened in mid-September with tours, science demonstrations and a
community celebration, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's School of Freshwater Sciences represents the continued development
of Milwaukee's water cluster. It also symbolizes the potential for
economic growth, jobs and revitalization that can flow from partnerships
that apply high-end research to solving real-world problems.

Envisioning, designing and manufacturing medical devices –
which range from robots to sensors, and from surgical instruments to software
that allows devices to communicate with one another – was the topic of a recent conference in Chicago.

The UW-Madison is one of the nation’s leading research
universities by several measures – dollars invested, patents produced and ideas
licensed or otherwise transferred to the market – but it was Wisconsin’s only
academic R&D center for more than 100 years. However, the past decade or so
has brought change.

Exports
and foreign direct investments are flip sides of the same coin. They represent
Wisconsin’s ability to build, produce and grow what the world needs – and to
attract investment from other markets that understand Wisconsin’s strengths.

For much of the Great Recession and beyond,
biotechnology was out of favor among angel and venture capitalists. Software
and Internet deals became the shiny object for investors who wanted faster
returns with fewer dollars risked.

Wisconsin is often dinged for being a state
with relatively low numbers of start-up companies, which is true given the mix
of start-up flavors that are counted in such surveys — from mom-and-pop stores
to lifestyle businesses to the "gazelles" that aspire to land angel
and venture capital.

If the measure is focused on fast-growing
gazelles, however, there are indications that Wisconsin is turning the corner
on producing the kind of companies that attract investors and produce
significant numbers of jobs.

The race for governor in Wisconsin may come down to how
voters answer “are you better off?” questions from Republican Scott
Walker, who was elected in 2010 and who weathered a recall challenge less than
two years later, or Democrat Mary Burke, his challenger in an apparently tight
race.

Workforce development means different things to different
people – which is why the term carries emotional and political weight across
Wisconsin, from its small towns to its major cities. It also explains why policymakers must aspire to devise a balanced
approach to meeting Wisconsin’s diverse workforce needs.

For reasons that include the Great Recession, the rise of
the Internet and the changing reading habits of Americans, general-circulation
newspapers have been in survival mode for a decade or more. However, the spate
of just-announced deals that feature media companies spinning off their
publishing arms may yet produce a promising future for newspapers – in
Wisconsin and nationally.